It was at once a test and a challenge; if the
Assembly was willing to accept orders from the Soviet authority and content
itself with rubber-stamping the decrees of the latter, as ordered, it could
be permitted to go on--at least for a time. At the head of the Constituent
Assembly, as president, the deputies elected Victor Chernov, who had been
Minister of Agriculture under Kerensky. At the head of the Bolshevik
faction was Sverdlov, chairman of the Executive Committee of the Soviets.
He it was who opened the fight, demanding that the following declaration be
adopted by the Constituante as the basis of a Constitution for Russia:
DECLARATION OF THE RIGHT'S OF THE TOILING AND EXPLOITED
PEOPLE
I
1. Russia is to be declared a republic of the workers', soldiers'
and peasants' Soviets. All power in the cities and in the country
belongs to the Soviets.
2. The Russian Soviet Republic is based on the free federation of
free peoples, on the federation of national Soviet republics.
II
Assuming as its duty the destruction of all exploitation of the
workers, the complete abolition of the class system of society,
and the placing of society upon a socialistic basis, and the
ultimate bringing about of victory for Socialism in every country,
the Constituent Assembly further decides:
1.
Pages:
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361